Dallas Eakins | Defenseman

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Dallas Eakins will reportedly be meeting with the Arizona Coyotes for their vacant head coaching position.

Eakins hasn't coached in the NHL since the 2014-15 season when he was the bench boss of the Edmonton Oilers. He's been serving as the head coach of Anaheim's AHL affiliate in San Diego during each of the last two seasons. Eakins lasted less than a year and a half with the Oilers, so it'll be interesting to see how serious of a candidate he ends up being for Arizona. Jun 30 - 7:18 PM

The San Diego Gulls have announced that Dallas Eakins will serve as their head coach.

The Gulls are the AHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks. The team was formerly known as the Norfolk Admirals, but it will have a new home in 2015-16. Eakins spent parts of two seasons as the bench boss of the Edmonton Oilers before he was fired. He had a 36-63-14 record with the team. Fri, Jun 26, 2015 12:30:00 PM

As previously reported, GM Craig MacTavish is expected to serve as the team's interim head coach. Eakins was the latest in a long line of failed Oilers coaches. He certainly deserves some of the blame for his inability to navigate Edmonton out of the NHL basement, but he's far from the team's only problem. A new head coach might not be enough to resurrect the Oilers and in fact the revolving door of bench bosses might be doing some harm to the team's young players, but at the same time, Edmonton needs to do what it can to at least combat complacency. Mon, Dec 15, 2014 12:39:00 PM

The source is Darren Dreger and he's usually spot on, so while you should always take these types of reports with a grain of salt, it wouldn't be surprising in the least if we got confirmation soon. The Oilers have been horrible during Eakins' tenure, but they've been so bad for so long and have gone through so many head coaches along the way that it's hard to put the blame on Eakins. Mon, Dec 15, 2014 11:58:00 AM

Depth Charts

Connor McDavid picked up three points in Edmonton's 6-2 preseason win over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night.

McDavid finished the night with a goal and two assists. The Oilers captain won the scoring title last year and don't be surprised if he does that again in 2017-18. The 20-year-old had an incredible 30 goals and 70 assists last season. He should be the first pick in all standard fantasy leagues.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is projected to play with Jesse Puljujarvi and Jussi Jokinen when the regular season begins.

Oilers coach Todd McLellan said playing Nugent-Hopkins alongside Connor McDavid could be an option, but for now it's the team's intention to continue playing RNH at center. "I feel comfortable with him at center. I trust him down the center ice position," said McLellan. "I think he's going to gave a tremendous year. He knows that he's allowed to take a little more risk now and and look for a little more offense. There has to be others on that line he trusts on that defensively at some given point. But I would say never rule out anything, we did have him on the wing at the World Cup last year and he was very good at it, but I think his home position right now is center ice and that's where we'll start him."

Drake Caggiula was skating on a line with Leon Draisaitl and Milan Lucic.

With Jordan Eberle no longer in Edmonton, there's an opening on the right side for another forward. It sounds like the Oilers will give Caggiula an opportunity to fill that void. "It’s different when you’re on the the boards on the opposite side, but he’s got a quick release he’s a puck-hungry player who can hound and hunt pucks down for the other two and he seems to find holes at the right time," said coach Todd McLellan. "If he’s doing those things we think he’ll be OK over there."

Mark Letestu has racked up eight points in six games in Round 2 against Anaheim.

He had two goals and two assists in Sunday's 7-1 blowout victory. Letestu has been especially dangerous on Edmonton's power play, where he has accounted for six points, including three goals, in the series. "When we put him on the power play back in October or November, we didn't have a triggerman. We knew in the past he could. He finds open spaces," said coach Todd McLellan.

Milan Lucic is in better shape going into the 2017-18 campaign compared to less season.

Lucic weighs in at the low-230s like he did a year ago, but it's with less body fat. It helps that he had the stability of knowing that he was going to stick with the same franchise after bouncing around over the last few years. "It was nice to be in one place all summer long and focus on myself and my training and my family," Lucic said. "I look at the three summers before and it was kind of hectic. Last summer being a UFA and not knowing where I was going to be, flying around to places, down in LA, up in Vancouver, in and out of Edmonton a few times. I flew around for a couple of weddings. Before that it was the trade (moving from Boston to LA), and my father passing away. And before that I had the wrist surgery. This was kind of the first summer where I could get refreshed and focus on myself, maybe be a little more selfish and better myself physically and conditionally and get myself more ready and prepared for this season and get back to the player I know I can b

This is a tough one as Maroon had 27 goals last season but he was playing with Connor McDavid for a lengthy stretch of the season and that was definitely a contributing factor. The forward is quite valuable in fantasy hockey as he combines his goal scoring and points with plenty of penalty minutes. If he plays with McDavid and/or Leon Draisaitl, Maroon is in for a big fantasy season. He should be drafted in the middle rounds in leagues that use the penalty minute category.

Jussi Jokinen scored a goal and two assists in Wednesday's 4-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets.

Jokinen signed a one-year deal with the Oilers this offseason. He'll be relied upon to add some veteran depth to a young, skilled team. The 34-year-old had 11 goals and 28 points in 69 games with the Panthers last season. Don't expect him to have any fantasy value this season.

Jujhar Khaira has inked a two-year, $1.35 million extension with the Edmonton Oilers.

Khaira had a goal in 10 games with Edmonton in 2016-17. He also had eight goals and 20 points in 27 AHL contests. He was scheduled to become a restricted free agent after completing his entry-level contract.

Leon Draisaitl picked up a goal and an assist in Friday's 5-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

Draisaitl had an incredible season with the Oilers last year and it got him an eight-year, $68 million extension this summer. The 21-year-old had 29 goals and 77 points in 2016-17. If he continues to see time with Connor McDavid, those numbers will continue to climb. He should be owned in all standard fantasy leagues. He'll likely finish as the second-highest scoring forward on the Oilers behind McDavid.

Ryan Strome scored a goal and registered an assist in the Oilers' 5-2 win over Calgary Monday night.

Strome is one of the more interesting Oilers players to keep an eye on going into the season. He was regarded as a top prospect at one point, but his tenure with the Islanders left plenty to be desired and he was limited to 30 points in 69 games last season. He might break out with the Oilers though. Patrick Maroon scored a goal and registered two assists for Edmonton. Mark Letestu found the back of the net twice. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who didn't score a goal in 13 playoff contests, netted a goal in his first preseason appearance of 2017. Connor McDavid had two assists.

Before you get too excited, Puljujarvi saw little action in the first two periods before he replaced Ryan Strome on a line with Connor McDavid and Patrick Maroon late in the second stanza. Puljujarvi was selected fourth overall in 2016 and while he has plenty of talent, a trip to the minors to start the season looks to be in the cards. He is worth selecting in keeper pools at this time.

The Edmonton Oilers signed Iiro Pakarinen to a one-year, one-way deal worth $725,000.

Pakarinen was scheduled to become a restricted free agent on July 1st. The 25-year-old had two goals and two assists in 14 games with the Oilers in 2016-17. He also suited up in one game during the postseason. Don't expect him to have any fantasy value next season.

The Edmonton Oilers have signed winger Ty Rattie to a one-year/two-way contract.

Rattie will get $700,000 in the NHL and $225,000 in the minors. He was not given a qualifying offer by the Blues and the 32nd overall pick by St. Louis in 2011 is now an Oiler. He has only four goals and 10 points in 35 NHL games and hopes to turn his career around in Edmonton.

Oscar Klefbom will likely be leaned on heavily at the start of the 2017-18 season due to an injury to Andrej Sekera.

Klefbom proved he was up to the challenge last year when he logged a team-high 22:22 of ice time per game. He also topped all Oilers defensemen with 12 goals and 38 points in 82 contests. Klefbom will probably be paired with Adam Larsson again because the duo had plenty of chemistry last year.

Larsson was leaned on so heavily because defenseman Andrej Sekera was hurt in the first period and didn't return. Larsson also registered an assist, giving him five points in 11 contests in the 2017 playoffs.

The Edmonton Oilers and Kris Russell have agreed to a four-year, $16 million contract extension.

That follows a report Thursday night that Russell and the Oilers were close to inking a trade that was for exactly that length and financial term. The report also suggested that he'd get a full no-movement clause, so we'll see if that part proves to be accurate as well. Russell's deal is a bit of a controversial one as he looks pretty bad from a Corsi/Fenwick perspective and hasn't brought much to the table offensively over the last two seasons. He does block a lot of shots though and averaged 21:13 minutes per game with Edmonton in 2016-17.

Matthew Benning is projected to shift to the second pairing with Kris Russell for Game 6 on Sunday.

Edmonton is being forced to alter its defense because Andrej Sekera (undisclosed) is done for the second round series. Benning has been averaging just 16:05 minutes per game in the playoffs, but his workload could increase on Sunday.

Cam Talbot stopped 28 of 30 shots in a 2-1 loss to Anaheim in Game 7 Wednesday night.

While that has to be a disappointing loss for the Oilers at the moment, it does bring a very promising campaign to its conclusion. Edmonton finished the 2015-16 campaign with just 70 points and hadn't made the playoffs since 2006, so the fact that the Oilers not only made it to the postseason, but battled to Game 7 of the second round is a big leap forward. Talbot deserves a lot of credit for Edmonton's improvement this season. He was a workhorse during the 2016-17 campaign and while he wasn't the league's top goaltender in the playoffs by any stretch of the imagination, he did steal some games for Edmonton during the postseason. The Oilers are a promising team going into the 2017-18 campaign.